Heart For Sale: Slightly Broken, Needs Repair
by AllByMyLonesome
Summary: A little one-shot AH fluff for all my AH lovers. Post TP. super cute, and hopefully loyal to the characters. Read, Love, Review!


_**A/N: **Hello! this is my first attempt at a Artemis Fowl Fanfic, although I've been composing them in my head for years. Hope you all like it, I figured we could always do with a little more AH fluff in the world. =] Enjoy!_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis or Holly, or any recognizable places or characters, but I do own the plot. Its mine, my own, my precious. Sorta... Eck, I really should stop trying to be witty. It always fails miserably...**_

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**Heart for Sale: Slightly Used**

The wind ruffled her close-cropped hair as she flew silently through the night. Reaching up to her face, she brushed away traces of moisture from her cheeks, sniffing slightly. _Stupid Mudboy, _she thought, swallowing hard. It had been years since she had felt this empty, years since the death of her mother. But now she was left in the same place once more, feeling alone and abandoned. If someone had told her ten years ago that she would be sobbing over a mudboy, she would have laughed in their face. And then punched them for good measure. And yet here she was, Major Holly Short, flying north in the clear Irish air, in her element, tears coursing down her cheeks.

Suddenly, she stopped, hovering in midair, frozen by her thoughts.

_Why are you so upset about this? _A part of her wondered.

_He __**lied**__ to me! _Another part of her replied.

The first voice took on a nagging, impatient tone. _So? You would have done the same thing in his place!_

_No, I wouldn't have, _the broken half responded indignantly. _He told me I was the instigator of a near epidemic! He told me I would be the cause of the extinction of a species._

_He __**let**__ you believe that. He never expressly said it, _the other voice reminded her.

_Same difference,_ she replied, impatiently, _the point is he __**lied**__to me. He didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth! What kind of a friend am I to him if he can't even tell me the truth?_

_If your mother had been dying and there was only one way to keep her alive, would you briefly lie to a friend to save her?_

_What? Yes-, no- that's not the point!_

_No, it's exactly the point. Of course you would save her. You would trust that your friend would forgive you when he found out the truth. Wouldn't you?_

_Well, of course, if my intentions were- wait, stop twisting my words!_

The other part of her chuckled, _I'm not twisting anything. You're just playing right into my hands. The point I'm trying to get at is that the real reason you're upset is because he didn't trust you enough to tell you the truth. Am I right?_

_No-, yes-, I don't know! I suppose. Yes. I mean, what kind of a friend could I be to him if he can't trust me? _

_I think the better question would be what kind of a friend is he to __**you?**__ Because all friends lie to each other from time to time, it's a fact of life. Would you be this upset if it had been Trouble?_

_No, I don't think so... I mean, Trouble doesn't have to tell me everything. He the Commander..._

_He's more than just your commander..._

_Okay, fine, he's my friend. But he's just a friend! He doesn't have to tell me everything!_

_And Artemis does? Why? He's __**just**__ a friend, too, right?_

The voices stopped abruptly at that thought, and Holly hung suspended in the air for several moments before kicking her wings into gear and speeding once more across the Irish countryside, leaving the question unanswered...

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Holly peered through the curtains of the tall French windows, eyes fixed on a figure slumped over in a large desk chair, and head propped up on arms that rested on the table before him. The figure looked beaten, defeated, and Holly had to blink several times before she could believe that the broken form before her truly was Artemis Fowl II. While his shoulders didn't shake with sobs and his suit was as pristine as always, never had she seen him so desolate. Drawing away from the window, she debated whether let him know she was there. While on the one hand he looked so lonely that her presence would be a welcome relief, on the other hand she could be the cause of his weakness, in which case, he would want nothing to do with her. She hovered by the window, deliberating, when her foot made up her mind for her, thumping against the glass. She was backing away, nervous, praying that he hadn't heard, when the windows swung wide open, and a pale face with red-rimmed eyes appeared in the doorway. She hovered closer, her eyes evaluating his appearance. If it hadn't been for his puffy eyes and red nose, she would never have been able to tell that he had been upset.

"Hey, Arty," she said softly, unconsciously using his nickname as she gazed into the blackness beyond him, unable to meet his eyes.

There was a long pause, and Holly was beginning to feel uncomfortable when his voice slipped out of his throat, a rasping, dry sound that she felt deep in her chest. "Holly." At the low sound, her heart ached painfully, and her mismatched eyes flicked upwards to meet their perfect opposite. But Artemis broke eye contact quickly, stepping back into the darkness of the room, while leaving the window open, a silent invitation for her follow him. She flew in slowly, pausing on the windowsill to let her eyes adjust. He stood several feet away with his back to her, his head bent and his hands clenched at his sides. Shutting off her wings, Holly stepped away from the window, her eyes never leaving Artemis' still form by his desk.

Silence reigned in the small room, thick and heavy, like an unwelcome wool blanket. After a minute, Artemis turned around to face Holly. All of the redness and puffiness was gone from his face, and his composure didn't falter once as he made eye contact with the elf. Holly returned his gaze with less trepidation. This Artemis she could handle; the Artemis who schemed and plotted; the predictable Artemis, with no emotions to complicate things. But the other Artemis, the one whose searing gaze could reduce her to a hormonal teenager, the one whose ragged voice and red rimmed eyes sent pangs through her heart, he confused and bewildered her.

"Holly, what a pleasant surprise," Artemis began, as though the scene at the window had never occurred. "To what do I owe this visit?"

Holly stared at him for a long moment before spinning around and walking back to the window. Her heart and mind were in turmoil. _Who was the real Artemis?_ She wondered, _the emotional teenager who wore his heart on his sleeve, or this cold individual who had no time for his feelings?_ She remained that way, facing away from Artemis, gazing out the window over the moonlight lake below. Artemis' voice summoned her from her reverie.

"Holly? What's wrong?" She felt him step closer, then stop and rapidly retreat. "Is there a problem?" he asked tentatively.

She replied in the same hushed voice, "Of course there's a problem," and then with a small chuckle, "when do I ever visit you without some problem on my hands?" _Or in my heart? _She added silently.

He rushed forward, kneeling down to her height, and placing a hand on her sleeve. "What is it? Is it Foaly? Or Trouble? Please tell me its not Opal…"

At his concerned interrogation, her composure snapped, and she spun to face him, meeting his gaze. "No, Artemis, the problem isn't in Haven with them, the problem is _here_ with _you._ I can't deal with this anymore! Some of the time—no, most of the time—you're this cold, robot of a mudman, with no emotions or feelings to speak of. _That_ I can handle, _that_ I understand. I know where I stand with you when you're emotionless. But those rare times when you show me what you're feeling in here," and she jabbed a finger at his chest, "that's when I'm completely lost. That's when I don't know where I stand with you. You have this ridiculous power of making me feel sixty years old again, destroying my control over my own body! My own mind! My own hea—" here she stopped, pulling away from him, finally breaking the magnetic pull of his eyes. "I'm sorry, Arty, but I can't do this anymore. You're all over the place—_I'm_ all over the place—and I can't handle that anymore. Sorry."

She turned to go, pulling the window farther open with her hand. She was about to activate her wings, when she felt a hand on her arm, pulling her back to face the mudboy—no, mud_man —_kneeling on the ground. She refused to look at him as she stood facing Artemis, instead staring at the foot of floor space between them. However, a gentle hand under her chin forced her to meet his gaze, and what she found there floored her. All the cold, serious, calculating Artemis was gone, and in his place was the compassionate, caring, _loving_ Artemis who could make her knees turn to jelly, and her stomach turn flip-flops. They stood there, searching each other's eyes for several moments, before Artemis' chuckle split the heavy silence.

"D'arvit, Hols, why didn't you tell me sooner?" And with that, the hand on her arm moved to her waist, pulling her against him, as his lips met hers in a soft kiss. It only lasted a second, but when they pulled away, and looked into each other's eyes, the pure, raw joy emanating from each made them both smile before their lips crashed together once more. Holly's last coherent thought of the night was, _**Now**__ I know where I stand…_ before turning her attention once more to the warm mouth caressing hers.

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_**A/N: **There, hope you enjoyed. Now you know the drill, R&R and virtual cookies all around. Thanks!_

_A-N_


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